Four-year-old left on train after doors close - Burnham Station, 1 August 2012

[whole diary]

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the Slough & South Bucks Observer:

A mother fears she will never travel on a train with her child again after watching a train leave the station with her four-year-old daughter still onboard.

Christina Parker, from Burnham, was returning home from a trip to Windsor with her daughter Chantel and sister Nikki Parker when the incident happened.

When the First Great Western train arrived at Burnham station on Wednesday, August 1, Miss Parker unloaded her bags and pushchair and turned to pick up her daughter only to find the train doors had shut behind her.

Despite efforts to raise the alarm, the train departed with Chantel still onboard with her aunt.

The pair got off at the next station - Taplow - and got a taxi back to the family home in Cleares Pasture.

Miss Parker said: "If a child gets separated from their parent on the train, anything could happen to them. They could be abducted or injure themselves or even fall onto the train tracks. It was very lucky my sister was still on the train with my little one or else anything could have happened."

Miss Parker was given a ^10 voucher by First Great Western as a gesture of goodwill, but the 20-year-old added: "It would be nice if the train company could do something to make it safer for children and their parents. I would not want to travel on the trains with my child again after this."

A First Group spokesman said: "Prior to the doors closing, there is a clear and audible warning. I do not understand why the customer did not hear the noise. We are investigating further."

The spokesman added that Miss Parker had been offered free train travel more than the value of her initial ticket and had been offered reimbursement for the cost of the taxi fare.

[JayMac]

There is but a few seconds between the hustle alarm sounding and the doors closing. It's sufficient time to ensure you are not going to be trapped in closing doors, but nowhere near enough time to continue unloading your pushchair and child.

The comments from the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) spokesman appear to be putting some blame on the mother. That despite this not being the first occasion a mother has been separated from a child on a FGW DOO^▸ (Driver-Only Operation (that is, trains which operate without carrying a guard)) service.

[eightf48544]

Didn't this happen before also at Burnham?

[bobm]

It did indeed

http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=9366.0

[BerkshireBugsy]

It did indeed

http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=9366.0

I have read both this thread and the linked thread with interest. One thing that appearrs clear is that forum members disagree on whether leaving a child on the platform constitutes an emergency. IMHO^▸ (in my humble opinion) if my 7 year old son was left on the platform and I was on the train I would consider it an emergency.

I would be interested to know what the TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) position would be on this. I am guessing each use of the emergency stop facility must be reviewed to determine if it has been improperly used.

Dave

[eightf48544]

I think that any TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) would consider pulling the Emergency Handle in these circumstances to be justified. They wouldn't want the adverse publicity they'd get if they tried to prosecute.

Interesting that both incidents were at Burnhamn wonder if it's to do with it being an island paltform and the driver has to open the right hand side doors. The only station between Paddington and Reading where this required for the regular service.

[SandTEngineer]

....hey hang on a minute.  The child wasn't left behind on the train by itself Two people got overcarried, thats all

[bobm]

I agree SandT.   Fifteen minutes of fame....

[eightf48544]

Agreed but the point is why were they overcarried? The driver was either a bit too quick or the passengers very slow.

For the general public whoever is at fault the blame will lie with the TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) it comes with the territory.

[IndustryInsider]

And with over a million people using Burnham station every year, you will occasionally get incidents like this happening I'm afraid.  If it was happening every week at all the stations on FGW^▸ (First Great Western) then there would be a serious issue to address, but it is very rare.

[SandTEngineer]

.....well I'm sorry but this has really wound me up   Station stops such as at Burnham are generally 30 seconds.  Whenever I use the train I'm always near a door ready to get off well before the station stop.  You can't expect the driver to wait in case somebody is a little bit slow in moving...the timetable would just fall apart.

[bobm]

I agree with you S&T^▸ (Signalling and Telegraph) - but these days bus operators seem to encourage people to remain in their seats until the bus stops and I think it has rubbed off on some people when using the train.

[SandTEngineer]

I agree with you S&T^▸ (Signalling and Telegraph) - but these days bus operators seem to encourage people to remain in their seats until the bus stops and I think it has rubbed off on some people when using the train.

.....I'm not surprised about that based upon experience from some of my more recent bus trips.....

[johoare]

I guess she was lucky/less worried as she knew that her Sister was staying on the train otherwise I imagine she might have had her four year old in the (otherwise empty) push chair before she took that off the train.. I am pretty sure she wouldn't have left her on her daughter on a train otherwise...

[eightf48544]

I'm interested in S&T^▸ (Signalling and Telegraph)'s views it reflects very much what was prelevent when I worked on the Southern in the 60s. Namely that we could run a very good railway if we didn't have any passnegers.

That's why it's very much easier to shift 2000 tons of aggregate (unless the brakes fail)  than 2000 plus passengers a day from from Burnham.

Plus ^a change (plus c'est la m^me chose).